College World Series

A capsule look at the eight teams in the College World Series at Omaha's Rosenblatt Stadium, in order of seeding: 1. MIAMI Record: 53-8. Coach: Ron Fraser, 30th year. Conference finish: Independent. How advanced: Won Atlantic Regional championship. Ranking: First by Baseball America magazine and Collegiate Baseball magazine.

Reporting from Omaha — Matt Purke wears black eyeglasses and his baseball cap sits tilted on his head, as those worn by many left-handed pitchers seem to do. He's a bit quirky, too — another trait shared by lefties in baseball lore — and his Texas Christian teammates have nicknamed him " Harry Potter." You could say he also has some other wizard-like qualities. Purke, a 6-foot-4, 180-pound freshman with a fastball that tops out at about 97 mph, has a record of 15-0 in 17 starts.

Reporting from Omaha — The fact that it worked means UCLA Coach John Savage can admit it was a gamble. Savage decided to use No. 2 pitcher Trevor Bauer in the opening game of the College World Series against Florida. Bauer struck out 11 in seven innings Saturday in the Bruins' 11-3 victory. Now, a program that entered without a CWS victory has to be feeling pretty confident with sophomore ace Gerrit Cole on the mound Monday against first-time participant Texas Christian.

UCLA made a point to say this was more than just a matchup against Matt Purke, Texas Christian's standout pitcher. Turns out, the Bruins were right. The Horned Frogs received a strong effort from Purke, but three home runs and solid relief from Tyler Lockwood were equally important in their 6-2 victory Friday at the College World Series. The teams play Saturday at 11 a.m. PDT at Rosenblatt Stadium to determine which advances to the best-of-three championship series. The Bruins (50-15)

Pitching . . . pitching . . . pitching. That's just about all people have talked, asked or written about this baseball season when it comes to UCLA. However, with the Bruins one out from being finished, it was a guy with a bat in his hands who "didn't want to see the season end" — and did something about it. It was then that second baseman Tyler Rahmatulla hit a shot that Coach John Savage said "will go down as one of the biggest hits in UCLA history." Rahmatulla's two-run home run erased a Cal State Fullerton lead last Saturday as the Bruins won, 11-7, in 10 innings, then pounded the Titans, 8-1, the next day to get to the College World Series.

The championship College World Series game between Miami and Texas was postponed because of rain Monday, NCAA officials said. The game was rescheduled for 4:10 p.m. (PDT) today at Rosenblatt Stadium.

The UCLA softball team advanced to the College World Series with 3-0 and 9-0 victories over Southwestern Louisiana on the final day of regional competition at Lafayette, La. Freshman pitcher Christa Williams went the distance for a victory in the first game and got the save in the second. She was aided in the first victory by seven extra-base hits, including two home runs by freshman Stacey Nuveman.

Pat Hope scattered seven hits and struck out 11, and Oklahoma State scored six runs in the sixth inning to beat Stanford, 6-2, Thursday night to become the only unbeaten team in the College World Series. Oklahoma State's Robin Ventura went 0 for 4 and had his NCAA-record hitting streak halted at 58 games. Ventura broke the 47-game hitting streak record set by Wichita State's Paul Stephenson in 1981.